


The Prince's Engineer

by barelycoherent



Category: Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Princess Bride (1987), The Princess Bride - William Goldman
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst with a Happy Ending, Closely follows the novel!, F/M, Feelings Realization, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Idiots in Love, M/M, Many lengthy descriptions of characters and their feelings, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pastiche, Rhodey and Bucky are the best friends someone can have, Romance, Steve Feels, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2018-10-12
Packaged: 2019-08-01 04:54:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16278188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/barelycoherent/pseuds/barelycoherent
Summary: A fairy tale adventure about a brilliant young man and his one true love. When the kingdom's favorite engineer is kidnapped, the only person who can save him returns from oceans away. Together, the lovers must overcome the evils of the mythical kingdom of America to be reunited with each other.Crossover with the William Goldman novel "The Princess Bride."Or:Tony reminded me of Buttercup so vividly and Steve is such a Westley that I couldn't help but write a Princess Bride AU with gratuitous fairy tale tropes and references to as many Marvel characters as I could possibly fit in. (Also, I skipped the sexism.)





	The Prince's Engineer

**Author's Note:**

> Couple notes:  
> This fic is a pastiche of the novel, and as such it's more closely based off of the novel's structure and writing style, but I'll be taking liberties with the plot.  
> The geography of this world is a mix of our world and some vague arrangement of continents to suit the plot, so sorry for any confusion. Otherwise, please enjoy my shameless fairy tale au.

It was an era of brilliance.

The day Anthony Edward Stark was born, the most beautiful person on the earth was a warrior queen of Africa called Ororo. She was said to influence the weather when she fought and would charge across battlefields like a storm personified. Her beauty and might were unrivaled in the land, and many sought her hand in marriage. But Ororo chose not to wait passively for a proposal, approaching and eventually marrying another leader of great power and influence, himself beloved and well known for both his own formidable fighting style, passed down through the generations, like that of a panther, and his unshakeable love for his people. He was one of the most intelligent beings on the planets, surpassed only by his very sister, Shuri, who helped bring their kingdom to a level of greatness few civilizations could hope to reach. She revolutionized the infrastructure of their territories, inventing technologies that secured the might and prominence of their lands for centuries to come. The combined might of the leaders and the brilliance of the scientist brought a golden era to the region, and both King T’Challa the Wise and Queen Ororo the Mighty lived many splendid days together in their palace in the trees.

The day Anthony turned 5, the most beautiful person in the world was an assassin and an agent of a kingdom to the west. Wade Wilson grew up in the slums outside the castle, and would be hated by many, but truly understood by few. He was resented, envied, despised, lusted after… But he only cared for one other person, who he was blessed to find loved him the same. Their feelings for each other were blinding in their purity and passion, and he delighted in his partner even while they lived dangerous lives hiding from enemies and living in squalor. But his appearance was devastated after being captured and tortured by foes after a supposed ally made a deal to have Wade killed. The chemical scarring and terrible burns inflicted on him in his captivity disfigured him completely, and much of his sanity was lost from the pain of the experience. Yet despite his blemished skin, the love of his life remained by his side, and, while he complained incessantly, he was hard-pressed to say he had truly lost anything of value when he had her love.

Long before them, there was a man who helped found the nation of Genosha who was said to be so incredibly intelligent he could connect the minds of men together to work as one. He revolutionized human understanding of the body, and set the foundation for sciences that would not truly develop into realms of study until long after his death. Yet despite his powers and mind, he was stripped of the ability to walk in a desperate battle with the person closest to him. The heart cannot be reasoned with the same way, and Xavier learned that young. His hurt and loss had helped him to gain the wisdom to inform his raw intellect, and his nation taught many after him how to best wield their gifts.

When Anthony, by then going by Tony, turned 10, the most beautiful person in the world was a brilliant noble called Jennifer Walters. She was intelligent, compassionate, bold, and clever, and was respected by all who had the pleasure of making her acquaintance during her unusual exploits, for a noble, where she spoke out and protested the crown. One day, late in a desolate winter, Jennifer unwittingly enraged a sorcerer who coveted her beauty and craved the kind of adoration held by the public for their beautiful defender of the poor. The gorgeous woman was cursed by the vengeful magician, and curiously enough, the enchantment took the form of an unstoppable craving for spinach. Jennifer was unable to stop eating the leafy plant, ingesting it for every meal, until her very skin turned green. Yet the odd coloring did not tarnish her beauty in the slightest, and one could say she grew even lovelier. With silky hair and a glowing complexion, Jennifer only gained more fame for her curious green skin. The sorcerer was horrified to find that not only did she simply increase Jennifer’s renown, but the spell served to give her foe unmatched physical strength, which she used to help even more people in need.

This same day, the smartest person on the world was the most trusted advisor to the Attilan royal family, a man named Karnak. He had learned the weaknesses to all things, giving his knowledge to the family of Attilan who recognized both the blessing and the curse to his skills. Because he saw how to overcome any potential defeat, he had figured out how to avoid death, if he pleased. His knowledge made him cold, but never cruel. His strengths taxed him like no other being could, and it was said that he finally knew peace when he allowed death to take him.

There were others of note that would appear both before Anthony and after. Long before, there were two siblings, one a man of fire, famous for his charisma and humor and feared for his talent on the battlefield, and the other a woman of compassion and intelligence who unshakably protected those same troops in battle, both individuals able to stake a claim for the title of most beautiful. The guardian of the troops, herself bearing a keen eye and endless brilliance, eventually married a man who was said to have intelligence that stretched to encompass every possible realm of knowledge. He was gifted beyond measure, and was constantly behind some bizarre disaster or strange invention.  The family that formed out of this close-knit family, the siblings, the husband, and the beloved best friend, would eventually raise a child far beyond what any soul could imagine a human being capable of.

A day long after Anthony will have died, the most brilliant human on the planet will be a lady called Lunella, who had matched wits with the masters and befriended an extinct lizard. She had mastered the physical form, changed mechanical engineering as a science, and figured out how to switch and meld minds with those different from her, all while still a child. Her endless intellect was matched by her genuine kindness.

On another continent, there was a woman known only as Elektra to the masses, who kept to the shadows in her quest to rid her hometown of criminals. Despite her many conquests taking place in the dark of night, any could see she possessed beauty rarely seen in humans.

There were others who would be known the planet around while Anthony lived, such as the revolutionary doctor called strange by the people, the inventor experimenting with chemicals and magic, Pym, employed at the same castle Howard often worked for, a man with the form of a blue beast who worked for the royal family of Attilan, and a woman said to glitter like diamonds who was able to know anything another knew. Warriors of such impossible beauty that the unlikely nature of their existence could only be further compounded by their absurd potential for strength. A woman with blades of purple light, a hero king who punctuated his blows with a hammer, a woman who drained the energy of humans, intentionally or not.

There was no doubt that this was an age of people of great character and beauty alike.

But Tony knew naught, nor cared, about who people thought was the most beautiful in all the lands, and as a young teen, in fact cared little at all whether people found him attractive. What he was far more concerned with was his intellect. He lived on a farm with his parents, his mother in charge of overseeing the crops, animals and the management of the small village tied to them, while his Father worked in his workshop built into a hill. His father was famous around the world for his way with machines, and would regularly make trips to the castle of the king to present His Majesty with new creations and weapons of war.

Despite his wondrous inventions, the most amazing thing he ever had a hand in creating was undoubtedly his son. While his mother was responsible for bringing him into the world and supplying him with many of his most favorable traits, Tony echoed his father’s feelings for engineering, and loved working in the shop almost more than anything. (Except maybe taunting the farm boy and attempting to train his donkey, Dum-e.) Because of his tendency to be found working in the shop any time his father wasn’t using it, or working in the shed when he was, he could often be found with oil in his hair, scrapes and bruises scattered on his frame, and fingers dark with residue from the inner workings of his many own contraptions. His hair was always awry from constantly tugging or messing with it and he scarcely noticed rips in his clothing. After disappearing for hours or days at a time, he would come back with some clever contraption or upgrade of his father’s work.

It was possibly because of Tony’s natural aptitude and brilliance with machines that his father disliked him so. It seems ridiculous to believe a father would be envious and resentful of his own son, but Howard Stark was the right kind of arrogant to lash out at the boy, already so intelligent and talented with their craft when he was but an adolescent. But while his father would mock and disparage his son, he was almost loving towards the orphan boy that worked on their farm. Steve Rogers was orphaned at the young age of 8, after losing his mother to disease. His father had died a few years prior to his wife’s death when at war for the king. He and Howard had been friends, originally making their acquaintance when the engineer and metallurgist outfitted the elder Rodgers for a new set of armor. So, after the death of his mother, Steven sought out the man his mother said would be able to find work for him, and was given a place working the fields and taking care of the animals. Howard liked the boy and his work ethic, and would often compare Tony’s easily distracted and unfocused style of labor to Steve’s concentrated and meticulous efforts.

For example, one spring day, hardly remarkable in any way, including in how much alcohol Howard had downed, Howard slurred, “Why don’t you work like him, Tony? Maybe I should leave the boy my workshop and lands in my will, rather than leave it all to you.”

Maria never ceased to sigh when an argument began. Howard was an alcoholic, especially prone to dipping into his reserves after returning from a job with the King. When Howard got drunk, he would look for his favorite target, eager for a fight.

“Howard, don’t be ridiculous.” Maria would try to stop the fights, despite her low record of success. Tony privately thought she chose to live in the countryside in order to force Howard to commute away from her and Tony for his work. She didn’t smile much in general when he wasn’t around, but she certainly never smiled at all when he was. After her death, all agreed she had been weary beyond her relative youth for too long a time.

“Yeah, _dad,_ don’t be ridiculous. Like the farm boy would appreciate the workshop like I do.” Tony was admittedly never difficult to prod into a fight with his father.

“Ah, but what if I appreciate him more?” Tony found himself unable to respond to that with composure, and he would tell himself the pain was from his fury at not being able to voice a comeback.

Howard would goad his son, who would respond with sardonic wit and barely covered hurt every time, until he could gleefully conclude from something that was said that Tony was still a disappointment. (Their feud was endless, and Tony would still be recovering from a particularly nasty spat the day of his father’s death.)

Tony really wanted to hate Steve. It was easier to blame the intruder for being the reason he didn’t get along with his father then to accept that Tony could do nothing to overcome his father’s resentment.

Their first meeting, he had been welcoming to the youth, a young, ten-year old boy excited for a new friend. (Tony didn’t have many friends growing up, and even fewer in his teens. He was too smart, too witty, too outspoken, too sensitive, too quick, too impatient, and later, too pretty for the average child to be able to handle. This led to him to turn to his inventions and the aptly named donkey, Dummy, for companionship.)

His excitement had been too much for the still grieving Steve to handle, so their first meeting went poorly by anyone’s estimation. Tony was animated in his initial greeting, though he reigned his energy in slightly when his mother reminded him to, but Steve was silent through the introductions, overwhelmed and grim with the understanding he was alone in the world. Tony tried to rally through it, and took Steve on a tour of the farm, peppering his disinterest with the farm with colorful commentary. They had just reached the barn, where Dum-E was waiting excitedly, when Steve stopped. “Please. Please just… Stop.”

Steve had been so overwhelmed by the travel and the bright boy talking as if his world hadn’t fallen apart, that he reacted poorly to the attempt at friendship. He needed the time to recover, without being reminded that life goes on, with or without loved ones.

Tony took it like a blow, horrified that he must have misspoke, but covered his shock and left Steve to his grief, after a sheepish reminder where Steve’s room would be.

In the next few days, Tony tried to reach out, offering his awkward apologies, but Steve wasn’t really ready to hear him. The older boy took Steve’s continued silence and reluctance to interact with him as a slight, and concluded that he was just another person who wouldn’t want to acknowledge his presence. (That was the age when Tony was first growing acquainted with the jealousy and resentment of others. His father was the first and most grievous offender when it came to this, making a game out of seeing how little he could interact with his son, especially when he came to work with his father in the workshop.)

When Steve had recovered to a place where he felt guilt for his dismissal of Tony, the other boy had internalized it too deeply. He decided he would act how Steve obviously expected him to act, and proceeded to tease and poke fun at the younger boy, targeting his quiet nature and small size. The orphan was certainly very slight in his early life, bony and frail, prone to falling sick and to terrible bouts of asthma. He was weak in body, but never shirked his work or let others take a disproportionate amount of work.

He was ridiculously difficult to dislike, much to Tony’s chagrin. Tony had the sensitive heart of his mother, even with the sharp tongue of his father, and nothing could protect or prepare him for the genuine goodness Steve unselfishly lived his life sharing with the world. The animals loved the kind lad and his soft voice and tired eyes. Maria and Howard adored him, the village quickly came to know him, and all the farm hands came to respect him.

But Steve was stubborn, so blindingly determined and obstinate at times that he even outmatched Tony’s bullheaded tenacity. When working the fields and tending the animals, Steve would carry on until he collapsed, whether in the peak heat of the summer or the deadening cold of the winter. He had to be forced into bed whenever he got sick, and it took leaving someone to watch the door to prevent him from running off and getting worse. (They all learned the mistake of listening to Steve’s assessment of his health around the age 12, when he hid a cold and quickly contracted a nasty bout of bronchitis that almost killed him.)

Part of his instinct for stubbornness stemmed from his outright distaste at the mere notion of letting someone else have to suffer, however slightly, by his inaction. He refused to be a burden, or a bystander. Steve was determined to protect everyone he met, at any cost to himself, leading to quite a few fights and the subsequent beatings when he went to town. Steve didn’t win many of these fights, with his unfortunately weak disposition, but that never stopped him from trying. He luckily had an ally in the form of his best friend, James Buchannan Barnes, or Bucky. Bucky would appear, as if summoned by magic, whenever Steve was in a fight caused or not caused by Steve’s actions. (Admittedly, it was often that the fight was initiated by Steve.) As an adult, Bucky had the smirk and confidence that captured attention like nothing else, but he had yet to master that aura when a teen. The casual humor and wry kindness he would become known for throughout his life did surface in childhood, though.

Steve was not some stone faced, humorless stiff himself, and actually had a dry wit that only those who had suffered and persevered despite that, could develop. The two were both farm hands on the Stark property, and while both were hard workers Howard and Maria were fond of, Bucky didn’t inspire the same devotion Steve did in Howard. They also interacted with Tony quite differently.

As children, Tony resented how Bucky got along with everyone, and especially Steve, and Bucky disliked the boy who teased his best friend. Bucky and Tony would delight in clever aspersions cast at the other’s character, making a game out of all the creative insults and jokes they could think of. It held a bitter edge in their early acquaintance, but the insults lost their sting as they grew older, too familiar and fond to hurt.

The only time Tony made a comment about Steve being unable to achieve some task he needed done in the fields based on his size, Steve went and singlehandedly plowed the field. He fell very ill from the overexertion, but Tony knew he wouldn’t challenge him that way again, though he never explicitly told Steve that he had earned Tony’s admiration. He never mocked Steve’s abilities based on his health, and instead teased him on the mistakes anyone could make, Steve’s specific quirks, or about how Steve couldn’t figure out how to take care of Dum-E. (No one could, was the thing.  Only Tony understood the donkey’s weird behaviors.) Tony further provoked him by assigning him the most bizarre, specific, confusing, or flat out nonexistent tasks on the farm. While the other hands tended the crops one summer, Steve had to hunt down the old goose, the meanest bird in the land, who had mysteriously escaped his pen. He subdued the beast with only minor injuries.

Steve enjoyed the challenges. The farm work was never boring, because while Bucky was whining about mucking out the stables, Steve had to work out the cryptic instructions on how he was supposed to assemble part of an irrigation system. He learned how to find traps in the crops, met every person in town on Tony’s wild goose chases, and was one of the few people allowed to interact with Dum-E. He also became the only other person Dum-E was fond of. (Tony would have yelled at Dum-E for the behavior, but it felt hypocritical.) Tony’s provocations and Steve’s clever responses became commonplace, and while many considered this to just be another example of Tony’s eccentricity and Steve’s ability to weather anything, those who knew Tony saw friendship. Even Bucky came to tolerate their battles, not only because he saw how Steve loved them, but because he came to see Tony meant no real harm.

See, when he hit his fifteenth year, Tony realized that the reason few would interact with him closely was due to jealousy, resentment, and his perceived arrogance. His casual reaffirmation of his intellectual superiority was understandably infuriating to some but he was so charming, despite his moments of abrasiveness, that he was still popular. His humor was almost never intended to wound or harm and he underestimated his own fortitude in the face of the slights and jabs said at his expense. His constant stream of sharp banter was as intimidating as it was amusing, but even if he toned down his words for the sake of others, it was his overall appeal that actually ensured his isolation. He was too engaging and brilliant, and resented for it. There were many who admired and desired him, but few who would reach out to him with aims of friendship. As he learned that people would smile at him just as soon as they’d spit curses behind his back, he learned to distract and amuse, never taking what people he couldn’t trust too seriously.

Tony’s only true friend, in how he was able to be emotionally available to someone and have it returned, in his teenage years was James Rhodes, a hard-working son of a miller who was able to weather Tony’s defensive bursts of sarcasm to see the well-meaning humor and concern underneath. Quickly nicknamed Rhodey, Rhodey found himself accompanying Tony on any number of random adventures, not usually intentionally and never according to plan. He would seek Tony out just as often as he was sought out, usually to find the boy asleep, hunched over a new sketch or contraption, hiding with Dum-e after a nasty fight with his father, or perched imperiously somewhere next to where Steve was hard at work, nonplussed and amused by Tony’s pointed comments interspersed alongside his ramblings. (Rhodey left when he came upon the latter likelihood.) Rhodey would have whined about Tony’s schemes, but he loved the prank war too. Bucky and Rhodey, one of the few times they saw the other unaccompanied by their respective best friends, discussed it, and decided it best to stay out of the war unless both of them were involved, before agreeing that both of their friends were morons.

One of the days Steve came back from town coated in honey from a trap he didn’t expect, Maria was out front to finish balancing the books in the fresh air. She sighed, and called over the young man her son had become so captivated by, and made sure he’d come to the house after he bathed. When he did, she gave him some food, and caught up with the orphan she had grown so fond of. She apologized for her son, but before she could even offer to try to get Tony to stop, an endeavor she had been meaning to undertake for a while, even though everyone knew it was largely impossible, even for Maria, Steve assured her he enjoyed the challenges. He admitted that he had been pranking Tony back, and when Tony used Dum-E or his friend Rhodey from the town, he got Bucky to help his revenge schemes. Maria beamed when Steve admitted it was he who had rigged the sprinklers to douse Tony every time he tried to walk by. Maria knew how tricky Tony’s engineering could be, and how because usually only Howard would be able to pick apart Tony’s more determined creations, Tony had been impressed by Steve’s ingenuity. She had tried to turn a blind eye to the, now iconic, farm-wide war of mischief, but couldn’t after Tony’s attempt at retribution that would have destroyed all the pumpkins.

She chuckled at Steve’s stories, and something occurred to her. A boy this clever needed an outlet other than trying to outwit her son. “Steve. Would you like to help me with the farm accounts? I think you’d enjoy it.”

Steve blushed red, and looked thoroughly conflicted. He politely refused, thanked her for the food, and left before she could ask again. She blinked in confusion, but brushed it off until it occurred to her to ask Tony about it at dinner. When asked, Tony made some remark about how Steve must just hate numbers, but Maria hummed noncommittally. (She couldn’t help but be relieved Howard was away for this discussion.) “He seemed uncomfortable at the offer. I know you pretend to not stand him, but maybe ask him about it, Tony.”

Tony scowled, but a few weeks later, Tony ran into Steve outside the barn, and had Steve bring him Dum – E’s saddlebag to his workshop. Very few were allowed in, but Dum – E, Rhodey, his mom, and Steve all earned rare invitations. When Steve apprehensively arrived, Tony started into his usual chatter and informed Steve he may as well stay because this invention required heavy lifting and Steve could be useful. (Rhodey was working on getting Tony to be honest about his feelings, but it was an uphill battle.) A couple hours in, Steve was still engrossed and awed by everything Tony was chattering about. When Tony figured out what wasn’t working properly in his current project, he asked Steve to note the error for him on the parchment out of his reach. The boy flushed, and Tony’s conversation with his mom suddenly resurfaced in his memories. When Steve offers to just bring it over instead, Tony cuts him off. “You can’t write, can you?”

Steve’s faced was redder than he had ever seen, and Tony could tell he was about to bolt. Feeling abruptly like as ass, Tony doesn’t even think before speaking. “We’ll teach you.”

That succeeded in stopping him. “What?”

“My mother teaches me on Sundays, she’d be happy to make time for you.”

“I couldn’t possibly impose-”

“God, farm boy, you’re so difficult. It’s not a big deal.”

“Of course, it is! I mean… I don’t know much-”

 “Its fine, Steve. You’ll catch up in no time.”

They bickered for several more minutes, before Tony managed to eke out a win in the stubbornness department, getting the boy to agree to at least give the lessons a try. Tony was about to gloat about his victor when Steve spoke up again.

“But… What about Bucky?”

Tony groaned and whined, and made a big show about inviting “the unrelenting asshole”, but insisted on the two showing up at the house on Sunday morning when Steve tried to back out again. The day of, Bucky trailed an uncomfortable Steve up the walk. When they reached the door, Maria opened the door and gifted them with a small smile. There were two bound leather notebooks and two charcoal sticks on the table next to a large book with worn pages and fabric marking several pages. She breezily ushered them to the table, apologizing to Steve for her rude oversight the last time they talked, and ignored their aghast protests when she told them the expensive tomes were theirs for their studies. They next few hours were spent with Maria assessing what they knew, and filling in gaps of knowledge in the foundation of their background. By the end, the two boys were exhausted but pleased, and Maria calmly closed the bound book she had used years earlier for teaching her own son. She often spent a few days a week teaching Tony, and while she had much of the work of the farm on her shoulders already, especially because Howard didn’t care for any of the daily tasks, she could afford another few hours a week to teach two smart boys. When they tried to tell her she didn’t have to teach them every week, she brushed it off and told them not to miss their classes each week, because Tony learned how to be persistent from her.

When Steve tried to thank the teen the next time he saw him, Tony waved off his attempts and threatened to sic Dum-E on him. “Really, it’s fine, don’t thank me, God, you deserve to learn. Seriously, just show me what you learned instead. Write your name for me?”

Steve was nervous, and after a pause that confused Tony, he started to slowly write out F A R M -

As soon as he realized that Steve thought he meant the nickname he called him, he stopped him. Tony didn’t often call him by name, often calling him farm boy, but felt abruptly terrible for it. “No, I mean your real name, Steve.”

“Oh, okay,” Steve obligingly started his own name, and when he finished, Tony nodded approvingly. “There. You’ve already got it. Told you it’d be easy!”

Steve felt color rise to his cheeks, damn his pale complexion, and tried again. “Tony, thank-”

The engineer almost threw Dum-E at Steve when he tried to be gracious again, using the donkey’s endless affection as a distraction to escape Steve’s overwhelming gratitude for what Tony knew he should have thought of earlier.

Over the next few years, Maria taught Steve and Bucky to read, write and know their basic history. Tony started “casually” leaving his old arithmetic books for Steve to get, and Maria started teaching Steve the bookkeeping. Howard would teach them some scientific concepts when he remembered and wasn’t drunk upon his return to the farm, but Steve learned much more when bringing Tony food from the house and listening to the boy’s rants.

Bucky and Steve learned from Maria, Howard made weapons of war for the royal family, Tony created clockwork machines and yelled at Dum-E, and Rhodey got stronger and stronger working the windmill.

When Rhodey finally got his conscription letters, as he was a couple of years older than Tony and quite eligible to join the army, Tony begged him not to go. It turned into a bitter fight, Rhodey reminding Tony that he didn’t have a choice and could actually make a decent penny in the army, and Tony reminding him that he could die before ever receiving the kind of promotion that would actually earn him anything substantial. When Rhodey insisted Tony couldn’t prevent this, Tony fled and hid with Dum-E in the barn all night. His grief didn’t stop him from bidding his best friend off, though, and Rhodey couldn’t help his relief when Tony said goodbye.

“You have to come back.”

“Come on, Tones, have some faith in me.”

“I have faith in you, Rhodey. That’s why I need you to be okay.” Tony didn’t say how he feared for his friend because he knew exactly what sort of weapons would be used against him, as he had seen his father’s designs.

Tony almost didn’t let go when Rhodey stepped away to join the group of other men being taken to the castle for training, but gave his friend the honor of respecting his choice. He would miss Rhodey horribly, but Rhodey wrote whenever he could. (Rhodey was a responsible sort of son and friend, and his mother was quite fond of Tony herself. Whenever he wrote home, she would hold onto Tony’s letter till he next came in to town.)

A couple days before Rhodey left, and while Tony was still sullenly hiding in the workshop to hide his terror for his best friend, the future soldier made a trip to Steve and Bucky’s bunk. Steve had just started studying his numbers for the evening, but gladly put his stuff away for the older boy. (A man, really, if he had to put his life on the line for a cause.) Rhodey asked Steve to watch out for Tony, and advised him on what to do in certain scenarios. Steve promised him he would do as he was asked, and was grateful for Rhodey’s foresight when, within the month after he left, it had circulated around town that Tony’s protector had abandoned him. It wasn’t a surprise to Tony when the boys and girls from town would appear to jeer at him, though he was frustrated that Rhodey had hidden the fact he often warded harassment away from the same person he was protecting.

At night, more often than not, they would congregate in the dark beyond his window and laugh about him. Tony would laugh right back at their vapid manner. Usually the laughter would give way to insult. He reminded himself of their failings, and ignored them. If they grew too damaging, Steve would come out from his lodging, and clear them out. He had grown considerably since the days he would start fights in town he had no hope of winning, and the, now quite rare, times he needed assistance, Bucky was a stronger fighter than he.

Tony never failed to thank him when he did this. Steve would quietly tell him he never needed nor wanted thanks.

After a particularly nasty fight, Tony went to his father, seeking advice. Howard was sober in a way he rarely was, in both body and mind, and when Tony said he was coming to him on Steve’s behalf, he truly listened to his son. Tony wanted to protect Steve, and Howard agreed with his mission.

Of course, he also took it upon himself to make the shield Tony suggested without letting Tony participate, assuring Tony this was an undertaking too serious to allow mistakes. It was an incredible tool, and, predictably, Steve tried to refuse it when Howard gave it to him. Made out of a rare metal Howard recently received from Wakanda by way of the Prince, the engineer smelted a small bit of it with steel. He was still learning to work with the unusually strong metal, but even with the rough meld, the shield Steve was given was abnormally resilient.

Steve made sure to thank Tony, confident that he knew where the idea for the gift had come from. Tony didn’t want the gratitude either, and would later steal pieces of the metal his Dad did not understand to experiment with it himself.

The inhabitants of Stark Farm reached an easy equilibrium this way. Steve and Bucky worked and studied, Maria handled the farm, Tony built things to help or to suit his curiosity, and Howard appeared rarely to shake them all up.

He seemed wearier than he had been in Tony’s youth, and his barbs were rarer than ever. When Tony asked Maria what had changed, she simply said Howard had been visiting soldiers more than he used to. He was never a good father, and Maria struggled with affection, but Tony loved them, and the other young farm hands had come to see them, if not as parents, then as an aunt and uncle.

When Tony was 17, his parents died. Their carriage was destroyed during a trip to the castle, after Howard had cajoled Maria into accompanying him for the first time. Some thought bandits, some magic or beasts, and some blamed Howard for crashing it. Tony had not the strength to contemplate how it happened.

Tony’s godfather returned from the army upon Howard’s death, according to Howard’s will and his duty as next of kin for Tony. The man was named Edwin Jarvis, a longtime friend of Howard’s and, while unknown to Steve and Bucky since he had been conscripted before the two came to the farm to work, he was a strong guardian for his godson. Even Rhodey had met the man only once, but had heard many stories about his endless patience, kindness, wit, and storytelling. Tony loved the man more than anyone except his Mother, and when Tony locked himself in his father’s workshop, where his father’s alcohol was, with only Dummy and his mother’s favorite knit blanket for company, Jarvis was probably the only one who’d be able to reach the young man.

Jarvis found Tony as soon as he made it to the farm, and only left several hours later, returning with food, before leaving Tony in peace for the night. While Tony grieved, Jarvis had all the farm hands report to him to help him understand the farm’s affairs. The man quickly grasped the situation, handling the many tasks of running a ranch with admirable composure. Between keeping the farm going and tending to his desolate grandson, the staff didn’t have much of a chance to get to know him. Steve tried to talk to him despite this.

Jarvis would get mail from Tony, and as such, Steve was not completely unknown to him. This did not mean he was easy to convince that Steve should get to see his grandson. After much begging, and after checking with Tony, Jarvis reluctantly let the boy in.

The workshop smelled of despair, alcohol spilled on the floor and Tony curled up in the corner next to Dum, looking like he had not bathed since he received the news.

Steve understood why Jarvis had been keeping people away when Tony blearily lifted his head and croaked out, “Steve?” He was obviously toasted, and Steve felt his heart break. No one could ever be ready for death, and Tony had lost both his parents abruptly. Steve could understand the complicated emotions of grief though, and what it was like to mourn both the person who loved and raised you, and the parent who wasn’t ever good to you. (Steve had few memories of his Father, but he remembered his Mom crying and his Father screaming.)

“Yes, Tony. I came to check on you.”

“Don’t say you’re sorry. I don’t- I don’t know what to do with that.”

“Okay. I won’t.” Steve picked his way around the debris of machines Tony seemed to have shattered and gently leaned over to try to detangle Tony from his mother’s quilt. By some miracle, it was still in good condition, but Steve knew Tony would be furious at himself if he managed to ruin it. He gently folded it and set it out of reach of both Tony and Dummy, and brought the glass or water Jarvis had left for him to Tony.

“Want to drink some water?”

Tony pushed it away clumsily. “I don’t want you to see me like this.”

Steve simply avoided the shove and tried again. “I want to see you.”

Tony stared at him a long time, and Steve observed with fascination how sharp his gaze was through the stupor. Satisfied Steve wasn’t pitying him or disgusted, he drank the water and let Steve catch the glass to keep it from breaking.

Steve went around, gently getting Tony more comfortable and feeding Dummy, (one of the only reasons Jarvis let Steve in was because Dummy didn’t really remember Jarvis and was suspicious of new arrivals when his master was in such a state.) Sometime later, when Steve thought Tony had fallen asleep, Tony spoke in a wavering voice. “Does it ever hurt less?”

Steve slowly sat next to the orphan. “Not really. But you… Learn to live around it. It always feels like a piece of you is gone, but it’s like you learn how to breathe around the loss.”

“I miss her so much. God, I miss my Mom. I don’t- I wanted to make her proud and to make her smile and- and now I can’t-”

“Oh Tony, I know she was proud of you,” Steve cut into the broken ramblings. “She talked about you all the time with so much gladness, and she bragged to everyone about you. And I know you made her smile because I’ve seen it. She loves you.”

Tony clearly struggled with that for a while. Steve braced himself for what he’d say next.

“I don’t know why I miss him, too. He fucking hated me, and never told me a nice thing, and was bitter and a drunk and mom never smiled with him and- and- I still miss him. I love them both, and I wish I didn’t care about him-”

He had started to cry, tears silently streaming down his face as he spoke, and when Steve pulled him in for a hug, he broke down into wracking sobs.

Long after Tony had fallen asleep and Jarvis had returned, Steve reluctantly got up and left, sure Jarvis would take care of the boy and remembering how he need time to recover in private after those first waves of grief. If Tony didn’t leave the workshop soon, he’d come back to try to comfort him again.

He and Bucky mourned that night too.

A few days after Steve had managed to talk to Tony, the young man returned to the fields like nothing had happened. The staff gave Tony their condolences in the only way he would accept: quietly. Tony received gentle contact in the form of hands on his shoulders or one-armed hugs, and heard warm words about how they were all happy to see him.

Tony took it all with considerable patience, especially for someone who hated pity, but Steve saw more than the others. He could see how Tony had changed, and recognized the lingering and complicated grief in his eyes. When Tony returned Steve’s gaze, Steve could also see his gratitude.

Yet he was still surprised when the next Sunday Tony appeared at Steve and Bucky’s cabin, flinging open the door and yelling at them for missing their lessons. (Words like “lazy bums” and “troglodyte” were thrown about.) The two had been caught up in their sadness, made more potent with the memories of their years with Maria, and Bucky started to reply with indignation that they couldn’t be late because their lessons couldn’t go on without Maria, but he awkwardly trailed off when Tony fixed him with a solemn stare. “I couldn’t let her down by not continuing your education. She loved teaching you.”

And well. Neither of them were going to argue with him and they really didn’t want to anyways.

Tony had matured into a man before everyone’s eyes.

\----

At risk of sounding like a broken record, one must say that this was an era of people beautiful in both spirit and body, so it was hard to say that Tony was _the_ single most beautiful person, or even man, in the world. That is not to say that Tony was not firmly in the running for most gorgeous, at least in raw potential. He was around the 20s in the rankings of beautiful people, and while he would not be truly ready till later, he was dazzling, and almost fey in his appearance while still a young adult. With fine features, clever brown eyes, honeyed skin, and dark hair, he caught the eyes of all he passed, and kept their attention when they witnessed his easy genius. But while Tony’s position among the most beautiful men in the world could be debated, few could dispute his claim to being amongst the most brilliant engineers in the world.

By his 18th birthday, not only had his beauty started to mature, but he had already surpassed his father in his knowledge and skill with engineering. Incredibly intelligent and quick-witted, Tony was a masterful engineer. Tony’s mind was like a ball of energy incarnate, constantly in motion and always relentlessly pursuing knowledge. Even while still growing, even while still finding the extents of what he could do, Tony was among the top five most genius souls on the planet. Like his father, he endeavored to create more and more complex inventions, but like his mother, he had no taste for weaponry and warfare. He thirsted for knowledge and discovery, constantly working in the forges and losing himself for days in the intricate contraptions and mechanics he found himself in. He treasured his wisdom, and desperately sought to prove to himself and his family that he could carry on a legacy to be proud of.

Some years earlier, when Tony first engineered the system that would automatically irrigate the Stark fields with water from the nearby lake, Maria insisted they tell the town and get all the people to come see it happen.

It mostly went off without a hitch, except for a moment when Tony started to worry about the delay and restarted the system before Rhodey reminded him of the fact that the lake was far away and Tony himself had told Rhodey it would take a while to bring the water. The whole town was amazed when the plumbing served to independently hydrate the fields, and Tony started getting more requests for inventions.

Since then, Tony would do odd jobs for the village, making the tiny town famous among their considerably larger neighbors, and gathering undue attention. His more elaborate installations would gather a crowd, and became a sort of recurring festival. When Tony finished a new improvement, the townspeople brought food and games.

People had already started traveling to see his inventions when he was still 15 years old, and by the time he had grown into the man he was, people came based on the legend of his inventions and stayed for the man. Wild and mischievous, devious and animated, full of life and bursting with ideas, he was breathtaking when showing off his passions.

While Tony grew beautiful and continuously surpassed his own intelligence, Steve had grown too. For his 17th birthday, Bucky bought Steve a book of languages for his birthday, (with considerable help from the money left for them from Maria,) and Tony bought Steve a new book of parchment and a few delicate pieces of lead for drawing. He had noticed Steve’s unformed sketches in the margins of his work and books, and sold a couple automated door openers to the local noble family to buy the set.

Steve tried to hunt Tony down to refuse the generous gift, or to at least thank him, but Tony evaded him until Steve caught him at the nearby buffs. There was a cliff overlooking the ocean that Tony liked to visit with Dummy.

When Steve approached, Tony groaned, but, as usual, let Steve get away with what he was doing. “Tony-”

“I wonder what it would be like to fly,” Tony mused, cutting off the gratitude before he could start and stubbornly staring at the sea. Steve paused, but looked out as well. “It must be so exhilarating. Feet off the ground, wind in your hair, free from it all. You can go anywhere.”

Steve turned to study Tony, his profile outlined against the sky. The waves crashing in the distance. “You want to see the world?”

Tony just hummed noncommittally, reminding Steve abruptly of Maria.

Steve smiled. “I think the sky suits you.”

Tony fended off a blush. “What does that mean? Never mind, don’t answer that. I bet you want to explore the world.”

Steve chuckled. “I do. There’s so much I haven’t seen.”

“Well? Why haven’t you yet?”

“I can’t.”

“The farm will survive without you, Steve. We won’t keep you here if you want to leave.”

“I know. That’s not what’s keeping me.”

“Don’t want to make find a wife and make a tidy home?”

“Tony, you gave me a home.”

Tony finally looked away from the horizon. He almost wanted to cry when he looked in Steve’s eyes. They returned after sunset.

Late in his teens, Steve hit enough of a growth spurt that he was taller than Tony and Bucky, much to both of their chagrin, and he was certainly less likely to pass out in the fields. Defending anyone who was wronged made him a savvy fighter, and while he was still uncomfortable in himself and lanky, it was generally agreed to by the people who talked about this sort of thing that Steve could still grow into his limbs. But his heart was maybe the most appealing thing of all, and was obvious to all who met him. He was courageous generous, and had the uncanny ability to bring the best out of the people he met. Many would argue Steve could still go up the rankings, and had clear potential beyond how naturally handsome he was. His pale hair and bright blue eyes were quite rare, and he had strong features, from sharp cheekbones to a lovely jawline. He was far less sickly then he had been, and how hard he worked every day was obvious in his lean physique.

He had gotten stronger from the farm, kind over the years, and smart from his studies. While Tony was overwhelming about his genius, sometimes operating in a fugue of instinct and outlandish ideas, and Bucky was a clever man but didn’t care for history or writing, Steve was a hard worker through and through. He thirsted for knowledge and studied tirelessly, with particular knacks for art, writing, and languages. His persistence came in handy for the latter subject, as any time he found someone who spoke a language he was learning or wanted to learn, he badgered them relentlessly for practice. Despite how people would start off helping him reluctantly, by the time Steve had gotten a grasp of the language, they would refuse any of compensation for their time. He was lovable, quickly worming his way into Jarvis’s heart as well. Jarvis was told Steve sometimes helped Maria balance the books for math practice, so he went to the boy to help understand the state of the farm.

Rhodey got his first leave from the army not long after the Stark parents passed away, and Tony spent all the time he could clinging to his best friend. Rhodey had received a letter from Tony with the news before his leave, but it was still fresh on his mind and the two visited the graves on the bluffs together. (Tony suggested the bluffs. Jarvis hugged him tightly when he did, remembering when Maria and Tony first found it during Tony's early riding lessons.)

Ms. Rhodes didn't mind Tony's loitering, and outright offered Tony a pallet in the house to sleep on for Rhodey's stay. Tony demurred, but quickly caved when she reminded him that Rhodey did not have long for his visit. Rhodey had already received a rank for his distinguished service, and though he downplayed the honor, Ms. Rhodes and Tony knew how rarely peasants were promoted. (Mr. Rhodes had been a conscript as well.) When he returned to the battlefield, Tony invited Ms. Rhodes to start coming to tea, and she and Jarvis got along swimmingly.

The years passed peacefully, as Jarvis easily fit into the fabric of the farm as caretaker and manager, Tony worked on a self-driving carriage, the farmhands continued their jobs and studies (with the farm’s heavy labor greatly aided by automations,) Dummy caused chaos, and Tony and Steve continued to dance around their feelings.

No one sensed the change on the horizon, and some three years later, nobles came to Stark farm.

Steve had become famous for his tendency to get into brawls, and one day caught the eye of the rich noble from a couple towns over who had come to one of their trading partner’s festivals in a show of goodwill. It was a spring festival, this year dedicated to the veterans of the kingdom’s many conflicts. Steve overheard a man mock a disabled fighter just returned from battle, and turned to him, without a moment of hesitation, to take him on. He probably could have approached the conflict differently, but calling the offender a “gutless, wretched excuse for a human” and challenging him to a fist fight was very in character for the boy.

Now, at this same festival, Tony was presenting an elaborate fountain that would hopefully become part of a plumbing system for fresh water, and caught the eye of the noblewoman’s husband. The nobleman inquired after the inventor’s identity later, and the mayor happily told him all about the young engineer with the bright eyes and captivating aura. The nobleman quickly put together that this was the same inventor he had heard of from a friend of his, who had been bragging about an order they placed for an automated plow.

The man, Tiberius Stone, was a Count, notable from the rest of the kingdom’s Counts both because of his relatively young age and from the fact that he had received his title as a commoner. Tiberius had curried the favor of the Prince as a young man, and was known as the Prince’s most trusted confidant. His wife, Rumiko, was popular with the royal family as well, but not quite as popular as the only Countess who had earned her title for military service to the crown. Margaret Carter was a fierce fighter, and had lived in a bustling border town famous for trade until invading forces attacked her hometown. Even as a young lady, she rallied her town and came up with the strategies that kept her town from being wiped out in the siege. She was offered an honorary rank or medal for her heroism, but she insisted on being properly conscripted instead. She rose up the ranks rapidly, despite the rarity of female officers or conscripts, but to receive her own unit in the army she had to gain favor with a noble who would sponsor her further ambitions. She reached out to Tiberius because she knew he had been a commoner as well, and while she didn’t much care for the man himself after meeting him, she became the head of his private army. (She hated the idea of skilled soldiers being hoarded en masse for the nobles to use at their whims, but hoped to change things as a general one day.) She received the title of Countess when she stopped an assassination attempt on the Prince, while Tiberius had just happened to visit to have dinner with the man.

Tiberius had long considered seeking out the engineer he had heard about, and after the death of the Prince’s pet weapon-smith and with his current dissatisfaction with the replacements, he knew the Prince would be interested in a talented and young recruit. (Young meant they could work a long time.) Tiberius just had to make sure he was as good as he heard before he wasted the Prince’s time. (The Prince had a vicious temper, though it wasn’t one you could easily see coming. Tiberius was wise enough to his moods to know that wasting time was a sure way to earn his displeasure.)

Margaret would not care much about Tiberius’s plotting, but Rumiko had told her the story of the random village man with the pale hair who took on a group of men singlehandedly for their cruel comments, and was curious to see if she would encounter the brave soul.

\----

It was nearing the end of the summer harvest, and the farm hands were sorting through the crops plucked from the field by Tony’s new prototype harvester. (It was still quite the work in progress and Tony was in a mood over the fact it’d take until the fall harvest or the next year to really make it a viable installation.) It was Bucky who noticed the procession first, and he sharply kicked at Steve’s shin, jostling the man as he sorted through one of the massive barrels. “Ow- what the fuck, Bucky?”

“Do you see them too, or am I hallucinating?” Steve followed where Bucky was pointing and felt his jaw drop at the procession of horses worth a good year’s wages and the soldiers chatting amiably. Bucky whistled, and Steve frowned around the barrel he was supposed to be lugging to the silo. “Take over for me? I’m going to tell Jarvis.”

No one even tried to offer to go instead, as Steve was easily fastest on the farm and Jarvis’s second favorite. While Steve took off for the main house, all the other hands rushed to get everything sorted so they could see the procession approach from up close.

Jarvis waited patiently out front with Steve, and respectfully nodded at the group as the Count and Countess dismounted. Rumiko just leaned out the window of her carriage, waving a delicate fan in the intense heat. When she noticed Steve lurking protectively behind Jarvis she choked on air, and swatted at Margaret’s arm with her fan as the lady passed by. The soldier shot her a look, but obligingly leaned over for Rumiko to excitedly tell her who the farm hand was. Margaret’s gaze sharpened with interest, and she watched the man now suspiciously watching Tiberius.

“Hello there. Are you the owner of this farm?” Tiberius stopped a scant few steps from the porch, but Jarvis remained polite despite the invasion of the farm without warning.

“No, merely the caretaker of it. I am Edwin Jarvis. I manage this estate for the Stark family.”

“Stark? As in Howard Stark?” Tiberius and Rumiko shared a significant look at the news.

“Once. Now Anthony Stark is the heir to the estate and I his Godfather, Lord..?”

“I am Count Tiberius Stone. This is my wife, Rumiko, and Countess Margaret Carter, head of my retinue.”

Jarvis bowed as propriety dictated, and when Steve seemed as if he wasn’t going to move, Jarvis gracefully straightened and addressed the irreverent man to avoid further rudeness. “Steve, why not fetch Anthony to greet our guests.”

Steve opened his mouth to argue, all of instincts disquieted by the happening, but wisely set off without a word when he caught Jarvis’s eye. The man could be terrifying and everyone on the farm learned how he tamed two generations of Starks and survived many conquests. (He was also famous for holding grudges and could smile with such false civility it could turn your blood cold. Though his temper was not unreasonable or prone to injustice.)

“May I invite you inside to tell us what brings you to our humble farm?” Margaret pretended to investigate the surrounding to hide her smile at Jarvis’s pointed tone and Steve’s obviously cowed retreat. Tiberius merely felt his smile go falser when he considered going inside the humble abode.

“No, kind Jarvis, I would be quite pleased to stay in your lovely fields to await Stark.”

Jarvis inclined his head in acknowledgment, and Margaret once more felt herself admiring this strong man who remained unperturbed by the awkward situation he was placed in by nobles with measures far beyond his kin.

Steve found Tony halfway inside the crop sorter’s central control nexus, arms coated with oil and hair the unruly mess it always reached by the end of a day sent outside or at work.

“Tony, you need to come to the house-”

“No, I need to get this sorted, before the season- ha, I made a pun there, sorted-”

“Yes Tony, you’re brilliantly funny and because of that I know you’ll figure this out tomorrow, but right now-”

“Who taught you sass? Was it Bucky? Oh, I bet it was Dummy.”

“I like that you’re ignoring the person I’ve known even longer who is currently being sarcastic while literally within a machine. Wait, damn, Tony, we need to-”

“Oooooh, foul language, what’s got you all riled?” Tony stopped actively tinkering with things when he asked the question, Steve could hear, so he didn’t feel too bad pulling him out of the tangle of parts. “Steve, c’mon!”

“As I keep trying to tell you, Jarvis needs us at the house because a Count and Countess just showed up and want to meet you!”

Tony went still and silent in surprise, before allowing Steve to help him up. “Jarvis is going to be pissed. I’m wearing the shirt he tried to burn last week.”

Steve wasn’t able to really contain the mirth that bubbled out of him, and his smile remained as they returned, amused how Tony tried to seem unruffled by how unprepared he was for the visitors while also trying to clean off some of the grease on his hands and arms.

“Ah, they return-” Tiberius stopped in shock, and Rumiko couldn’t help her blush either. Margaret was much better at hiding her surprise, but she felt a rare pang of empathy for her employers as she also took in the two men approaching.

Jarvis’s smile was pained to those who knew him, and Tony started preparing for the inevitable lecture later. “Yes, this is Anthony Stark.”

“Oh, just call me Tony-” He almost choked when Jarvis jabbed him in the side, but covered it in a cough. “Please call me Tony, milord and milady,” The words were barely sincere, but since the royal procession was still shocked by the presence of the two unlikely humans, they didn’t notice. “How may I assist servants to the king on such an… auspicious day?” Steve struggled to keep from laughing at the sharp look Jarvis kept pinned on his godson, and at Tony’s feigned ignorance to it.

Tiberius shook himself, reminded that he had a goal today. “Ah yes, we are here because many have heard of the great success of your… melon harvests, and we wish to learn how you have produced such incredible fruit.”

The Countess rolled her eyes so hard Tony noticed it, and felt a flash of appreciation for the aura she projected.

“Our melons, milord? The ladies are here to inspect our produce as well?” Tony was no fool, and the whole farm, including the pack of farmhands trying to blend in with the soldiers who were too distracted to care, knew that while the farm had improved immensely over the years, (starting with Steve’s attentive care and growing through the pack of loyal help and the fleet of machines,) if royals were here, it was for the inventions.

Rumiko, leaning suggestively on the windowsill, smiled. “Yes, I must say we are all immensely interested in how the plants were grown.”

Tony crooked an eyebrow, amused by her almost against his will, and incorrectly assuming all of her interest was on Steve. (But of course, his mind didn’t register it as Steve being every attractive, nor did he fully investigate how his mind couldn’t comprehend not being intrigued by the man.) “I must admit I cannot take all the credit. Steve here is one of our longest working farmhands, and is a superb worker. Why not ask him to show us?”

Tiberius faltered, surprised by the redirect to a peasant. “Er, the farming techniques of the workers? Yes, I suppose that would be pertinent… to melons.”

The Countess took this moment to speak up, moved to rare sympathy for the fool she served and done with this bizarre tiptoeing around their intended goals. “While I know I’m ecstatic to see the farming techniques, would you say your work is the main cause of your success, Steve?”

While Steve was getting ready to jump in, royals or no royals, he was taken aback by the direct address, and surprised by the lilting accent of the northern colonies in her voice. “No, not at all. Milady.”

The honorific was tacked on, and she felt her lips twitch into a smile. “Call me Peggy, please. I tend to find that affairs such as this are a group affair, and your farm has grown considerably in both fame and production these past few years. Can you grant us insight?”

Steve seemed even more baffled. “Alright, Peggy. You’re completely right that it’s a team effort, as all the farm hands work diligently, and we could never have reached our current output without all of Tony’s incredible inventions. He was just working on an automatic crop harvester.”

“It’s incomplete,” Tony jumped in, though he was still glowing from Steve’s praise.

“It already harvests everything, it just doesn’t sort too well yet,” Steve explained.

“Then why don’t we go see some of these famed inventions!” Tiberius eagerly latched on to the subject.

“And here I thought they were here for the melons,” Tony turned to whisper to Jarvis and Steve, but stopped short when he saw Steve looking at Peggy. He had a gentle smile, and returned Peggy’s acknowledging nod. Steve was pleased by this lady who seemed kind to Tony and exasperated with selfish nobles, but the specific smile Tony thought was for her was still lingering from their conversation and from Tony’s mere presence beside him.

The fool saw the tender smile he had previously, subconsciously, assumed was kept solely for him aimed at this strong woman with the gorgeous… everything, and felt a brewing dislike in his stomach. He stoically started off to his old workshop, sure he wouldn’t show them his new inventions in favor of the projects already seen before. Maybe he’d show one of his harmless but complex machines.

The group trailed after Tony who was closely followed by Steve who were all followed by the still appraising Rumiko, the ambitious Tiberius, and the careful consideration of Peggy.

Jarvis took a moment to study himself and send a prayer to Maria to help him handle the mess he could sense was coming.

\----

Tiberius was delighted by the clear engineering genius who lived out in this countryside, and further buoyed by the fact he was the heir to the very engineer Obadiah was dismayed he could no longer use.

Rumiko was still atwitter at the specimens she saw on the farm, including a brunette with sharp eyes among the farmhands when they left, (Bucky was no slouch in any department.)

Peggy had reached out to Steve before they left, admitting that she had heard of his actions defending veterans, and they had a lovely talk while Tony was still reluctantly displaying his creations. (Jarvis had to admire Tony’s instincts, even if informed by envy, as he was almost never unenthused when showing what he was really proud of.) The two started sending letters, and she was always with Tiberius whenever he came with some absurd idea or request.

Tony hated Peggy. He hated her perfectly waved hair that never got unruly or greasy after a long bender, he hated her pleasant and crisp voice, he hated her clever words and sense of humor that Steve understood, he hated her courage and strength when faced with harassment and belittling, hated how easy it was for her to be kind, her clear morals and goals for societal betterment, and hated how, as much as he envied her, he really struggled to hate her at all.

He decided it was best to just leave them alone, and pretended there wasn’t an ache in his heart when he avoided Steve. This meant he didn’t quite see the confusion and longing in Steve’s eyes when Steve was rebuffed or outright ignored, but meant he did get deeper and deeper into a foul mood, colored by his self-loathing.

So when Bucky approached Tony, a couple months after Steve befriended Peggy, to chew the genius out about how he was treating Steve, Tony was ready for a fight.

“What? What’s wrong with Peggy?”

“Um, have you met her?” Tony was tinkering around to look casual, but Bucky just rolled his eyes at how Tony couldn’t hide his stress.

“Yeah, and we both know she’s fucking great. She isn’t a snob or callous like the rest, Tony.”

“So she didn’t want her title, big deal.”

Bucky gaped. “Are you for real? She hates nobles and their bullshit. Haven’t you complained about Tiberius being a piece of shit?”

“Yeah, because he’s a buffoon and wants something from me, but won’t say what. He’s entitled and small minded.”

“But Peggy isn’t like him at all! Hell, she calls him a fool constantly, and only works with him because she needs him to sponsor her ascent among the military!”

“Have you seen the way she looks at him?”

“Yes, she looks at him like he’s exhausting-”

“No, at _Steve_ , come on, who gives a fuck how she feels about Stone.”

“What about how she looks at Steve? She likes him!”

Tony slammed a wrench on the table and Dummy skittered away. “Well, she’s either giving him false hope or planning to take him away from m- us.”

“False hope for what? Peggy taking him away? Steve isn’t going to leave, that’s a ridiculous suggestion. God, why are you being so stupid, Tony? You’re hurting his feelings because you keep ignoring him!”

“Maybe I don’t want to see him!”

“You’re lying, you were always hunting him down with your lame excuses to make him spend time with you!”

“I don’t want to see them.”

“Them, huh? So only you’re allowed to have his time?”

“She’s a distraction from his work and he already works too hard.”

“ _You_ work even harder! Or at least don’t take care of yourself!”

“She’s forcing him to spend time with her when she just shows up. It’s presumptive and selfish.”

“You’ve always wanted to have all his attention! Always saying he needs to unwind and be distracted. What is it really? What’s changed-”

When he went silent Tony just got more agitated, because Bucky wasn’t stupid, and Tony could recognize when he was about to be smug.  He. The man had a tendency to dramatically announce whatever brilliant thing he just discovered or realized as soon as it came to mind, and it drove Tony mad.  (Both men denied being capable of just as much smugness as the other when Steve or Rhodey tried to bring it up.)

“You’re jealous of Peggy. Did you only now recognize your feelings?”

Tony fled. Bucky called after him, but Tony was out the door in a flash. Not entirely because he was embarrassed, despite what Bucky must have assumed, but because he was suddenly overwhelmed. In reality, as Tony had been processing how much he resented someone else getting Steve’s perfect smile, and was still starting to decipher his, up till now, confusing feelings. He had this budding fear there was something much bigger behind his resentment and jealousy, because he was able to realize he was jealous, and Bucky’s inference was just the final straw that broke the camel’s back.

He ran straight to his room, locked the door, and panicked.

How could he not have realized? How could he have been so blind? He had desperately wished for Steve’s affection for years while simultaneously pushing him away, blind to his own yearning. Rhodey had even tried to tell him, but he had ignored it. For years- YEARS! He had been gravitating around Steve like the sun. Steve was who he thought of when he woke up, Steve was who he wanted with him forever, and Steve was the only person who could make him flustered.

Tony was in love with Steve, and couldn’t bear the thought of losing him.

And to realize he had been so transparent- it was humiliating. _God, Steve must know too, and must have just ignored my feelings all this time to be kind,_ Tony thought despairingly. _I’ve been pining and was so dense I didn’t even know._

He spent a week in his room, jealous and embarrassed and overcome with melancholy in equal measure, only allowing Dummy to stay with him and only allowing Jarvis to come in.  Steve had been rejected from entry to the workshop five times, and as such, was moping dejectedly around the farm. Bucky rolled his eyes when he saw Steve slumped dramatically over one of the water tanks, pathetically doing maintenance. _He’s probably thinking something soppy like, ‘he invented this to make my- I mean, our work easier. Tony’s so kind_ ,’ Bucky thought exasperatedly. When Steve audibly sighed, Bucky threw his hands in the air and walked away, sure Steve wouldn’t even notice and sure Jarvis would cut him some slack today. Besides, he had been lurking near the workshop for days, waiting for Tony to inevitably sneak out. Bucky felt guilt deep in his gut for making Tony so uncomfortable, and while he and Rhodes had been trying for years to get these two morons together, he didn’t want his methods to hurt either one of them. Even if they had an incredible ability to cause their own problems.

He was still leaning against a tree just out of sight of Tony’s door, and was unsurprised when Tony snuck out with Dummy and started his usual path to the cliffs. Bucky was resigned to have to try to intercept Tony on foot a ways outside of the farm on his return, when Jarvis appeared holding the reins of one of the family horses.

Bucky almost fell in his surprise, and Jarvis pretended not to notice. “Going after him? Please try to shake some sense into him. Heaven knows, I’ve tried.”

“I’ll do my best, Jarvis, but we both know what he’s like.” Bucky laughed, despite himself, at the exhaustion in the man’s voice. He accepted the horse with gratitude and set off to comfort one of his favorite people in the world.

Tony groaned when he saw Bucky approach, but he didn’t move to leave when he settled down next to him. (Dummy was trying to eat something off a nearby tree.)

“What is it now?’

“You’ve been hiding from everyone, now.”

“Don’t lecture me on being mean to Steve again, I am already aware of how shitty I am.”

Bucky turned to make sure Tony saw his incredulity. “Are you kidding me? You haven’t been mean to us since… I don’t know, since those weird early days?  If anything, you’re too nice but pretend like you aren’t.”

Tony shook his head wordlessly.

“I’m sorry I upset you. I just hate to see the two of you like this,” Bucky pressed on. “You should talk to each other.”

“Communication skills aren’t really within my purview,” Tony said drily.

“Sure, Tony. Hell, to be extra nice, I’ll even pretend like you haven’t come to any massive realizations you’re avoiding.”

Tony shot him a glare, but Bucky felt suddenly that Tony needed affirmation.

“You know I care about you, right? Take Steve out of this picture for a sec, ‘cause I’m your friend no matter what. I love you, Tones.”

Now Tony felt an abrupt wash of shame, and slung his arm around his friend’s waist. The man barely out of boyhood and with such an endless capacity for kindness, obvious when he pushed so hard to reach Tony. “I’m the one who probably hasn’t shown it. I love you too, Bucky. I’m… I’m sorry I’m such a shit friend.”

Bucky groaned dramatically and pulled Tony into a real hug. “Oh shut up with that, you’re great. Always pretending like you aren’t being helpful. Your birthday gifts are always the best, too. Even if you’re a know-it-all, you’re a generous know-it-all.”

Tony smirked. “Better than a know-nothing.”

Tony squawked when Bucky put him in a headlock and started ruffling his hair. “You always gotta get the last word, huh?”

“At least I don’t resort to physical abuse,” Tony protested through his laughter.

They started back a couple hours of stargazing later. Tony and Bucky were about halfway back when Tony spoke up again. “Does he hate me?”

No one would have had any question who he meant, and Bucky barely managed to contain his exasperation, reminding himself how dense they both were. “Never.”

Quiet.

“You really think I should tell him?”

“I think you want to, deep down, and you need to trust yourself more.”

“Trusting myself got me into this mess,” Tony muttered disparagingly.

“But it’s how you’ll fix it,” Bucky said firmly.

They returned home.

\----

Tony gave himself the night to prepare, then left his room determinedly. He chickened out at the door, and as if sensing his godson’s distress, Jarvis walked into the room to begin breakfast. He saw the young man arguing with himself under his breath and manfully didn’t sigh.

“Good morning, Tony.”

“Oh, Jarvis, I was just- I couldn’t sleep,” Tony admitted, as both he and Jarvis knew he was never up in the morning unless he never went to bed.

Jarvis pretended to be busy with the stove, and his tone was deceptively light. “You can tell him. I have it on good authority that you’re quite lovable.”

Tony stammered embarrassedly, but his quiet, “Thanks,” was sincere.

The support of his family bolstering his steps, Tony strode to Steve’s house on the edge of the field and knocked loudly. Between the first knock and the last, it occurred to Tony that he hadn’t really slept, probably looked as nervous as he felt, and hadn’t brushed his hair in days.

Bucky answered the door, smirked, and left the house with nothing but a call behind him. “Steve, it’s for you.

Steve walked up to the door, clear eyed and alert like only he could be in the morning, and his curiosity shifts into blatant surprise. “Tony? Why are you up so early, are you okay?”

“No, I don’t think I am okay. I would worry I’ve lost my mind, but I know, I hope I know, that you wouldn’t mind. And it really shouldn’t be such a big, or world shifting thing, but it really is and I should probably thank Bucky and Rhodey, but that’s really second to facing you and- I just have to tell you.” It sounded as if Tony was trying to be flippant, but as he went on his voice just shifted to heart-rending sincerity.

“It occurred to me a couple days ago that I’ve been in love with you for longer than I can remember, and that all of the overwhelming emotions I feel around you and no one else are actually symptoms of this madness. I wake up every morning and wonder what you’re doing. I create something and want to show you before anyone else. I say anything to make you laugh or smile, I do whatever it takes to hold your attention a moment longer, I’d give anything to bring you joy, when you succeed I feel victorious, and every time you discover something new I feel as if I’ve learned it along with you. I share more and more of myself with you then I could ever share with anyone else, and I’m frankly horrified that I went this long without realizing how gone I am on you, Steve. I’d forgive you anything. God, Steve. How could I not be in love with you? I never thought I could be happy, but you are my happiness. Your humor, your wit, your kindness, your strength, your refusal to see anything but the best in someone, I just- I’m continually outdone by my love for you and I don’t know if it’ll ever stop growing. I can’t even stop myself from babbling, which isn’t new, but telling you I love you is a need I didn’t even realize I had. Looking at you, I know I won’t ever want to stop. Please say something, Steve. Tell me something about what you’re thinking. I know I’ve been horrible to you, but could you forgive me my confusion? I’m not generous, or warm, or open like you are. I’m not good at people like you are, and I can’t read your mind like I wish I could. I’m no Peggy, hell, or even Bucky. I was given hope and you know I’ll always take a mile when given an inch. Steve, I love you. What do you say?”

Only when he stopped, breathless and terrified, did he let himself look at Steve’s face. He felt his heart plummet past his feet at the blatant shock he saw.

“I- I don’t…”

Tony’s ears started ringing after that, but he didn’t have to flee until Steve suddenly closed the door.

He knew logically, somewhere in the back of his mind where he wasn’t devastated, that something must have happened between the door closing and him reaching his room, but he could barely think past the choking disappointment and anguish.

All of his accomplishments, all the people who had admired or desired him meant nothing when the only person he had ever wanted back wouldn’t have him. He pulled at his hair and paced, ignoring the way his eyes blurred with tears and desperate to build something to distract him, but unable to handle the idea of leaving his room only to come across someone. He didn’t know how long he spent there, but of course Steve could never let things go.

When he heard the knock at his door, he took a few moments, pulling air greedily into his lungs and grabbing a shirt to wipe of the evidence of his heartbreak off his face. When he felt like he had a tentative grasp of his emotions, (and wasn’t that usually the best he could do), he swung open the door and lounged against the door frame. “Oh, Steve. I feel like we just spoke.”

The man in question had a complicated mix of emotions playing on his face, but Tony could only read the guilt. “Tony, I- I’m sorry for being a coward earlier, you deserved a better answer, and-”

“Its fine, farm boy, and it no longer matters.” Even after being so disappointed, Tony somehow couldn’t bring himself to lie and say he wasn’t serious about what he said. It physically hurt, now that he knew, to deny how he felt. “Don’t get all guilty and dramatic. Besides, I think I figured out how I could have been so oblivious for so long. It defies expectations that I could be in love with you.  Ha, and when you so clearly have other priorities. Me? In love with my farm hand? What an absurd cliché. Maybe I was ashamed, or maybe it was to protect myself,” Tony said. The tone was somehow airy and scathing, and he hid the kernel of truth in his words underneath layers of sarcasm and rudeness. His heartbreak made it easy for him to pretend Steve hadn’t long ago become too talented at reading him not to see through his bluster.

“I have to leave,” Steve replied.

All of Tony’s bravado collapsed instantly, and he could barely speak around the lump in his throat. “God, please don’t leave because of me, I’ll never bring it up again, it was stupid of me to even think you’d respond favorably and ignore what I said, I can handle it, I wouldn’t take out my disappointment on you-“

“I’m not leaving because of what you said, but because I wish to make my fortune in Genosha.”

“Like Peggy will leave the military to join you in Genosha,” Tony tried to say it with a sneer, but he thought it didn’t quite manage to sound anything other than bitterly sad.

“Will you stop bringing up Margaret? God, you’re so dense!”

Tony was struck silent by the outburst.

“You only just realized your love, but I have loved you for years, with a passion and compulsiveness I have never managed to control. I embraced the madness, as you called it, long ago. I’ve known. I am here for you, I have tied my future to you, not the farm. I can’t go an hour without missing your voice, without wanting to check how you are. Nothing hurts me more than when you’re in pain. If your love was a cup of water, mine would be the ocean, farther than the eye can see.”

“You… For years?”

“I can make lists upon lists of moments that reminded me that I love you, though I don’t know the moment it began.”

“I would argue with you, but I need to check if I’m hallucinating. You feel what?”

“Tony, I love you. I love you more than anyone has ever loved anyone. I’m addicted to you. I sometimes just find myself repeating your name in my head, and my sketchbook is filled with pictures of you,” Steve confessed.

“Only me?”

“It has always only been you, Tony. You are wholly unique, and I cannot even imagine loving anyone else.”

“Why did you not tell me?”

Steve looked to the side, abashed. “I couldn’t imagine you sharing my feelings. You’re so radiant, and I was just happy to have a bit of your attention.”

“I was always the same, Steve.” Tony laughed, breathless and joyous. “I constantly build things for you.”

“I write poems for you in different languages to practice,” Steve rebutted.

“God, Steve, I love you more than birds love the sky.”

“My love is as endless as the stars.”

“I love you more than Dummy loves destruction,” Tony countered, and now Steve was laughing helplessly.

“That is a good one.”

“I love how we always end up arguing,” Tony teased.

“We agree on things!” Steve argued.

“I don’t know who I’d be without you,” Tony breathed. He suddenly remembered what Steve said when he appeared. “You can’t want to leave! After we only just found this?”

Steve looked sad, but resolute. “Tony, I want to make my own fortune, not just to grow into my own as an individual to better deserve you, but so we can provide for each other. I can’t make a living off of the one I love’s fortune. Leaving is the best way for me to achieve all of this.”

“Are you joking? Ten of me isn’t worth one of you! We have always been equals and I don’t care about a fortune! For money we could just marry into nobility, or make weapons, or sell the farm! Besides, why must you leave me? Why can’t you make your fortune here?”

“Tony, you know there is no money here, and we’d never be happy with the other options! I don’t want to leave you, the only reason I can leave is because I know that I’ll return to you. I can only depart when I know that I have a home to come back to.”

“You will always have a home with me,” Tony said.

They had long ago gravitated into each other’s space, alone in Tony’s room. Steve swayed forward as if pulled, and Tony felt a surge of courage.

“Well. You can’t leave without a kiss.

It is said that some moments defy explanation. Occurrences the world shifts to better accommodate, points in time so notable and existence changing that the effects ripple through to touch multiple universes. In the history of the world, there have been six of these indefinable singularities, so powerful and moving that this universe, and many others, shook with it. This kiss put them all to shame.

“God, if I wasn’t such an idiot we could have been doing this ages ago,” Tony breathed, greedily pressing kisses against all the exposed skin he could find.

“If we weren’t both idiots, we wouldn’t be us,” Steve replied, hands dragging down Tony’s back.

Tony, for once, didn’t want to argue. He had found much better things to do.

Jarvis wisely stayed out of the house most of the day.

\----

Tony didn’t stop arguing with Steve about his decision to leave. Bucky had agreed to go with Steve, and they planned to make money as shipmates on a trade ship to Genosha, the nation going through a boom of growth and development, before looking for work in the capital. Declaring their love had not changed much, while changing everything. They bickered and teased as usual, and they had already spent most of their time not working in each other’s presence, but they could be softer than they had allowed before around each other.

Also, they were very intimate. All the time. Jarvis banned them from the house after finding them kissing against the dining table, and Bucky would show up and kick them out of his house with Steve, so they spent more time in the workshop or Tony’s room. Tony mapped every line of Steve’s body with fingers and tongue, and Steve got drunk on learning all of Tony’s reactions. Work still had to be done, and the world would try to get in the way, but the two’s motley family was so relieved that they had gotten their heads’ out of their asses that they picked up the slack and let them escape their work early. Steve and Tony were insatiable, years of love and longing boosted with reminders of a coming departure.

Tony could not remember ever being so happy, and only the prospect of this ending could bring him down. But despite Tony’s continued dismay, Steve’s stubbornness won out and the day of the departure neared.

They went to the cliffs one last time before Steve left at Tony’s insistence and because Steve would miss seeing Tony against the sea.

“Leaving me for some other land with inferior tech? See if I don’t take up with all the locals while you’re gone,” Tony threatened unconvincingly.

“Here I thought they had a better technological infrastructure,” Steve replied lightly, even as he tugged Tony closer to him.

“Whatever, I still have better inventions,” Tony said, trying for mulish but landing closer to fond. “You’ll miss me, won’t you?”

“I’ll be homesick,” Steve admitted easily.

“Not as homesick as I’ll be.”

 “What do you mean? You’re not leaving the farm, are you?” Steve faltered.

“Without you it doesn’t feel like home,” Tony said simply.

Steve couldn’t help his overwhelmed smile. “Well, you gave me a home. I’ll be lost without you.”

“That means you have to come back.”

“I could never stay away.”

They were both blushing horribly, and Tony embarrassedly made for the bags still strapped to Dummy’s back. “I have a gift for you, to keep you safe.”

Steve laughed. “Of course you do. I really don’t think I’ll be in much danger, especially because I won’t be around the biggest troublemaker I know.”

Tony feigned shock. “Are you- do you mean me? Cap, if you think you don’t attract more trouble than me, you’re insane.”

“Cap? Is that my new nickname?” Steve’s bemusement was familiar to Tony, and he grinned.

“It’s short for captain, like a ship’s captain. You like it?”

“I’m not going to be in charge of the ship, Tony.”

“I don’t know about that, you have this way of making yourself in charge.”

“I think I’m offended,” Steve pretended to whine, but he could never really hide his mirth. But he abruptly stopped when Tony finally unearthed a round shield from his bags. It was right blue and red with a white star, and Steve felt an absurd pang of affection that Tony remembered his favorite colors.

“A new shield?”

“A better one. I want to make sure you come back in one piece, and this shield is made of pure vibranium. I don’t think anything could get through it, even with your penchant for breaking things,” Tony teased, but his eyes betrayed his nervousness. He didn’t quite manage to stop himself from asking. “Do you like it?”

Steve was reverent when he took the shield, and was stunned by how light the shield was. “Tony, of course! It’s incredible! I don’t even know what to say-” He seemed to abruptly remember something, smiled, and swooped in for a kiss. Some indeterminable length of time later, Steve drew away, despite how Tony made a noise protesting the sudden distance and leaned up to start again. Steve could barely believe he had gotten to this place in his life. “You’re incredible, Tony. The most amazing person I’ll ever meet.”

“Ever, huh?” Tony said playfully, but his voice almost cracked. “So you like it?”

“I love it. And I love you.”

They didn’t return to the farm for a while, but since Steve was leaving at dawn, no one really had to question why.

\----

Many thought Tony worked himself to the bone to prove without a doubt that he was greater than his father, even if his father would never admit it, which wasn’t entirely wrong. Others who knew him better would have asked if it was to make his mother proud. Rhodey figured it was a lot of things, and, as usual, his instincts were right.

When Steve and Bucky left, Tony was a desolate, mopey mess for three days. Jarvis made a few attempts to get him out of the house, but Tony insisted he deserved the time to be moody. On the fourth day, he stared at himself in the mirror and firmly told himself he would work to deserve Steve.

He had gone through a crisis when Steve first left, the low self-esteem that had plagued him since he developed a sense of self rearing its ugly head. Despite his many gifts, and the many people who had come to love him over the years, Tony’s aura of self-possession was largely a shield to protect a heart that had been rejected and injured over many years. When Steve left, he was consumed with the idea that Steve would be disappointed when he returned. Steve was already so lovely and would only grow even nobler and stronger, and out of the people he’d meet from all around the world, surely he’d meet many who were more kind, balanced, mature, beautiful, generous… People who’d make the perfect spouse and would fit an ideal that Tony had never felt would be plausible for him.

He resolutely set about to improving his appearance, as that was one of the few traits people always seemed to appreciate, and knew that his intellect was his next best bet to keep Steve engaged. (Sure, his brain got him in trouble constantly, but Steve had always been weird.)

Tony pushed himself to every limit because he couldn’t bear thinking about Steve being in danger. Every moment had to have something to distract him, because otherwise his mind was a prison of worry. He was driven by a need to create, to grow, to become so good at what he did, that Steve would not be disappointed when he returned. Tony was impressive, but had to become even more so. Steve was making his way in the world for them and he couldn’t stay stagnant.

He worked himself to a bone until the first letter arrived. (Jarvis was thoroughly relieved that it seemed Steve wrote a letter the instant he had the opportunity to.)

Creation was his first love. But his next biggest joy was getting letters. Rhodey’s letters had been a joy for years now, but Steve’s letters were a new delight, and almost overwhelmingly loving.

In it, Steve detailed all of things he’d seen and all he had done. Bucky and he had taken a ship to the new land, and he had seen approximately 30 things he would have like to have shown Tony to get a smile out of him. Oh, and he loved Tony. The ship had a cat that reminded him of Dummy, please give Dummy a carrot for him, oh, and he loved Tony. Bucky said this funny thing, and he loved Tony.

The ocean is endless and blue like your eyes and I love you.

It took me days to get used to the swaying of the boat and I love you.

Do you know much about the inventions of these foreign countries, and I love you no matter what.

And always, always at the end he said:

“You gave me a home, and I will return to you.”

Tony clutched the note to his chest and struggled with the waves of emotion buffeting his frame. Steve would never lie to him, and here he was talking about loving Tony forever, like it was as much of a given as the sun rising each day or Dummy knocking something when he got excited.

Tony remembered how Steve loved him at his lowest, at his most wretched or irritable, when he was petty or insecure or hurting, when he couldn’t handle anyone or when he just wanted to lash out. Steve accepted him, and maybe he could begin to accept himself, as well. He was less hard on himself, and while he tried to grow as a person, he didn’t hurt himself in the process. (Almost ironically, he grew more beautiful by the day, buoyed by love.)

He wrote essays of love back, and while he knew he couldn’t send any until Steve gave him a fixed address, he knew Steve would be happy to read them.

Tony was never complacent, though, and his newly realized love still spurred him on. He continued to create, continued to travel to install great inventions, and to help the people with his innovations. He was particularly proud of the many improvements he made to local orphanages, including one he knew Bucky had spent a spell at. (All free of charge, because what kind of fiend would take money from orphans?) While trying to keep the farm flourishing and himself distracted, he surpassed the boundaries of his previous inventions by far. He didn’t have a healthy work schedule even before he found out Steve loved him, but his efforts were even more chaotic after he lost his favorite non-engineering pastimes. (Listening to Steve, teaching Steve and Bucky, teasing Steve, watching Steve, pranking Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve.) If Jarvis wasn't there to drag him out of his workshop, who knows if he'd even remember to eat.

Tiberius was delighted by the growth, of course, though he came by less often when the Prince insisted on him coming by more. Peggy would sometimes appear instead. She and Tony developed an easy rapport once Peggy made quite clear to Tony that she was not the sort of person who would hold being rejected against him, and Tony apologized for how jealous he had been. They grew to be true friends, with inside jokes and favorite topics. (Tony was irritated at a weak national infrastructure, Peggy with a terrible military organization, and both of them worried for their friends abroad.) She received letters too, and the duo loved to make fun of the travelers and share stories.

Jarvis also insisted Tony take more responsibility in the menial work of running the farm, as while he was instrumental in the tasks and had many chores to keep his inventions in peak condition, he avoided things like salary and restocking. One of Tony’s new tasks was choosing a new hire for the farm, as their workforce was dangerously low without Steve and Bucky's vital help. Over the years, much of the staff left to either start families or retire due to injury, age or failing health. (Tony would give the farm hands a crash course in engineering before they left, then recommending them to his old clients. Many needed skilled people to maintain the machines and ensure they functioned properly.)

Tony whined but agreed, as long as Jarvis left him to it and didn't complain about who he chose or how he chose. Jarvis was exasperated but allowed it.

Hiring the perfect person turned out to be a challenge. They were plenty of wholly competent choices, sure, but none of them measured up to Steve in Tony's eyes, which really doomed any chance of him finding someone normally.

Because his life wasn't quite normal, Tony ended up discovering his new recruit on accident. He was visiting a town where he installed a particularly complicated clock into the tower that needed his specific skills to fix. He had just gotten back to the stables when he heard the distinct sound of a spring releasing and then a bird squawking. He searched for the source of the sound and found a teenager with a, seemingly homemade, catapult and some netting. As the boy busied himself with retrieving the bird he caught, Tony investigated the contraption, pleased by the ingenuity in it. It was a very efficient and shockingly small catapult, and from how far away the bird was, he had rigged it to fire off weighted nets.

The teen was muttering to the hawk as he walked back.

"Yeah yeah, I know, life isn't fair and you don't want to get caught, but you've been plucking up, -ha, plucking- all of the chickens and I'll get blamed for losing them. Even though-"

He stopped short when he saw the man investigating his catapult. “Anthony Stark?”

“Call me Tony. Want a job?"

The teen gaped. When Tony made no move to change what he said, and seemed to be awaiting a serious response, he tried to form a coherent sentence. In his defense, the man in front of him was a local legend and a personal inspiration from the times Tony had come to town.

"Um, I have a job, right here? Where I work?"

"What, as a stable hand? Animal farmer? Perfect, you have experience with animals. What's your name so I can send for you in a few days?"

The teen blinked. "My name is Peter Parker, but sir-"

"Tony, kid, Tony. I'm not even old yet."

"Okay then, Mr. Tony, but I already have a job, and my parents might need me?"

"Are you asking me or telling me?"

"...Telling?

"Look, Peter. I’m impressed by the power you managed to pack in such a small catapult. You have a knack for this, and I can help you get better while you work for me. Maybe show you how to get a quicker release time and improve the range, just off the top of my head. It's a simple farm job, lodging on the farm, and a ton of it is automated, so you can learn how to take care of all the machines."

"The Stark Farm? As a full time farm hand?” Boy, was it a lovely thought for Peter. Learn more about engineering from the local celebrity inventor? Leave his town with the bullies and the boredom?

“That does sound nice, but my parents-"

"Right, let me meet your folks to share the good news about your new job!"

And well. The Parkers were quite taken with Tony, and by the generous salary Peter would earn. Tony was nearly impossible to stop when he had an idea, and Peter quickly learned it was best to go along with the schemes. He came to the farm a few days after Tony met him, and when Jarvis showed him the farmhouse, he was briefly stunned at how quick everything changed.

Jarvis approved of Peter when he proved to be quick, clever and hardworking, and Tony was delighted by the teen and his big ideas. It helped to have someone to mentor to distract him from how so many of his loved ones were across the world, and Tony always reminded himself how his friends could take care of themselves.

But of course, Steve was still Steve, even across an ocean, and when a hateful dictator took power in Prussia and attacked Genosha, Steve volunteered to join their military.

America had been caught in skirmishes with Prussia for decades, and while there had not been an active war between the two nations for many years, Rhodey told Tony of the battles at sea or on the borders. America had a mostly genial peace with both Attilan and Genosha, had little of a relationship at all with Wakanda, had a rocky series of ceasefires with Prussia, and a building tension with Asgard over their clashing foreign interests. (Rhodey had told Tony that much of their training seemed to be preparing them for a prolonged fight with the naval powerhouse.)

America was not willing to break their current peace with Prussia, as the administration that took over the country seemed to have its own plans beyond starting a prolonged conflict with America. In fact, the Third Reich of Prussia had a branch of their government simply called Hydra, and it was this group that set the military’s focus on Genosha. The nation state was famous for its abnormally high rate of children born with magical abilities, and Hydra was obsessed with power.

Tony had absorbed much of the history needed to understand the shifting world order from his lessons with Maria, Howard’s rants, Rhodey’s letters, Jarvis’s stories, and now Steve’s letters. Steve joining a military for a country he had only just set foot upon was really not near shocking. Bucky joining with Steve was also to be expected. They both had strong feelings about what was right and wrong, anyways.

But it was also to be expected that Tony would not handle the news well. Jarvis barely stopped Tony from taking a boat to try to stop Steve, and if Rhodey hadn’t been home on a rare vacation, Tony probably still would have managed to sneak away. As it was, the two convinced Tony that he’d never make it to the country before Steve had already been moved as part of the military.

Tony desperately sent letters to the possible bases and towns he could be staying at, and when Peggy appeared in town with a pale face and concern in her eyes, rightfully guessed Steve had told her too. She agreed to use whatever assets were at her disposal to also try to dissuade Steve, but they all knew the outcome.

Steve had his code of ethics, and even in America, they had already heard of what Hydra had done to their own people. The plans they had for Genosha could only be worse, and as such, Steve was going to fight to stop this clear force of evil.

Steve kept sending letters to Tony, and while they were filled with love, they were also filled with grief and horror. He always apologized for hurting Tony with his actions, and Tony always fought the urge to weep because the stubborn man would do whatever he thought was right, damn the consequences. Tony knew what he did was honorable, but he didn’t want his loved ones to die.

He clung to the knowledge he had created the strongest shield the world had ever seen to protect him. (It was not a question that it was the single sturdiest shield on the planet. Tony had a very good idea of the weapons of war being used by all the countries, and very little could hurt Steve past that shield.)

When he didn’t receive a letter for the longest stretch yet, he remembered how Steve had once lifted the farm wagon by himself, and carried Dummy when he got sick.

When Peggy hadn’t received letters either and appeared with dead eyes and news of a series of vicious battles in the mountains and at sea, Tony thought about the times they had gone to the coast and Steve swam like a fish.

When Peter determinedly locked Tony out of the workshop one night so he’d sleep, Tony thought of how Steve and he would plot massive offenses to trick or prank the other, and how Steve could win fights against groups of men with his wits and his fire.

When Rhodey appeared at Jarvis’s behest and got Tony to eat, Tony thought of how Steve could pick up languages easily, and fix inventions Tony never designed to be accessible.

When Bucky returned to the farm with grief in his eyes, without his left arm, and with Steve’s shield in his right, Tony remembered how Steve threw himself in front of blows meant for another, how he fought off the people who would torment him, and how he sat with Tony when his parents died.

Tony remembered hearing Steve say “I love you,” and collapsed.

When he awoke, Bucky was asleep in the chair next to his bed. Tony absently noted how much weight Bucky had lost, how long his hair had gotten, how relieved he was that his friend had come home, and how making him a new arm would be an interesting challenge.

Jarvis came in a couple hours later, the whole time of which Tony spent quietly watching the veteran of a war no one would truly win.

Jarvis kissed his godson’s forehead, and woke Bucky. Tony guessed they had been taking shifts to watch him. He asked Jarvis how long he had been out. Three days was quite a long while, Tony knew, but the significance was lost on him at the moment.

When he woke, Bucky croaked out Tony’s name and pulled his chair closer. Tony tried to shape the words to apologize for… for a lot of things.  Maybe for not making him a shield too, for not going with them, for how he reacted- but Bucky stopped him.

“Tony, would you want me to apologize for leaving? For not- for not bringing him back?”

The answer to that was quite clear. Bucky began his story.

Steve and Bucky had gone on many missions, specifically to destroy Hydra forces. On one of their missions, Bucky was captured by Red Skull’s personal platoon. Red Skull was the head General of Hydra, and a repulsive, hateful psychopath who reportedly captured and experimented on soldiers. When Bucky explained he lost his arm in their camp, Tony was deliriously grateful the man returned at all. Steve led a covert force that destroyed the camp in the mountains of Prussia, and recused all the prisoners.

But because everyone knew Steve was the mastermind behind the attack, word got to Red Skull about the leader of the group who destroyed his favorite prison.

Clash after clash at war, and the Genoshan forces requested Steve and Bucky join a special force to destroy the battleship of Red Skull rumored to have technological parts key to new weapons for their army. Steve and Bucky succeeded in their mission, and Steve himself defeated Red Skull, before the monster killed himself.

They promptly destroyed all the weapons or threw them overboard.

“He didn’t get ki- caught by Hydra?” Tony took the news of their battles with admirable grace, cause while he had interjected the story periodically with horror or fury that Steve had lied about his actions in some letters, Steve becoming a key player and defeating a monstrous general seemed completely in character.

“No. He killed their general. We took their battleship, and we sailed back to the mainland with their flags replaced with white flags.”

“But then-”

“We were attacked by the Dread Pirate Fury.”

Tony’s felt abruptly dizzy once again, but after a pause where Bucky had him drink water, Tony insisted he continue. (Tony wasn’t the one who had gone to war, and would be furious at his reactions, but no one begrudged him his grief.) Everyone had heard of the Dread Pirate, and everyone knew he kept no prisoners. He was the most famous pirate in the world, and his crew was, ironically to Tony, called the SHIELD. Bucky also admitted Steve had gotten stabbed with what they suspected was a poisoned blade in his fight with the dreaded Red Skull.

But when the pirates attacked their ship, Steve and Bucky leapt onto their deck, and raised a hell of a diversion. The two had attached ropes to their own crow’s nest to their belts in the hopes it’d help them return to the ships, but Steve’s was severed in the chaos. He destroyed the pirates’ main mast with an explosive he threw together, but before it detonated, he threw the shield to Bucky and pushed them both off deck. The crew of the ex-Hydra ship, now filled with Genoshan forces and other volunteers like Steve and Bucky, caught the man and pulled rapidly away as the pirate ship scrambled to recover from the shock of a sudden explosion.

Bucky was a bit confused when Tony’s next question was about the bomb, but he described the explosive Steve had assembled before the Pirates descended upon them. They had been out of cannonballs, but not saltpeter or gunpowder. Tony felt an absent wave of pride that Steve remembered the recipe for a simple bomb that Tony had described years ago.

The ship escaped with relatively little damage, or little enough damage that they could make it to shore, but the crew had to lock Bucky below deck to keep him from trying to commandeer the ship or a small dinghy. He left the military after telling everyone about Steve’s actions, and no one tried to stop him. (Bucky was the one who insisted on staying enlisted despite losing his arm.)

Then Bucky came back home.

The friends, almost brothers, clung to each other a long time after the story ended. Bucky had been mourning for quite a while now, but had never received the comfort he desperately needed, while Tony had refused to mourn. Only Bucky, someone with just as much unshakeable faith in Steve as he, would be able to convince Tony he was gone.

Gone, the defender of the meek. Gone, the man with endless love in his heart. Gone, the orphan boy who wore his heart on his sleeve. His protector. His friend. His rival. The one who pushed him to be better, but loved him anyways when he wasn’t. Steve.

After he saw his family and assured them he wouldn’t do anything drastic, he took Dummy and rode away from the farm.

Jarvis fretted, Peter reluctantly fixed the machines himself, and Rhodey and Bucky insisted on bringing food by periodically, but Tony stayed on the bluffs, alone, for a week.

When he returned, his eyes were dry, but bared a sorrow, so great, no words could capture it and no words could soothe it. Grief weighed down his steps, and he looked old beyond his years.

They all tried to speak to him, but Tony’s responses were short and impersonal. He brushed off concern, and laughed cruelly when Rhodey tried to speak of a happy future.

“Tony, we all _know_ he would want you to be happy.” Bucky tried to back Rhodey up, but was predictably disappointed by the response.

“I will never love again,” Tony explained matter-of-factly. “And the world is a lesser place without him on it.” The young people seemed unsurprised by the declaration, but Jarvis’s heart ached to see his godson so burdened. To lose your loved ones so young was a cruel twist of fate.

“It’s my fault he’s gone. He left for me.”

They all responded to Tony’s absurd claim with dismay, outraged by the idea and horrified on Steve’s behalf that Tony would take the blame this way, Bucky most fiercely upset of all, but their words fell on deaf ears.

Tony’s voice cracked as he continued. “It wasn’t worth it.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to dontcallmeking for beta'ing!


End file.
